Turn FotA into a Dice Tower. No tools required.

[Typhon2222]

I've experimented with replacing the entire receiving tray with shadow/molten lava/water/swamp water/ice tiles, stacked double high.

It DOES look amazing. And ensures dice never end up slightly cocked.

There's a wee problem though: as the dice hurl out of the doorway into the receiving tray, they often hit the battlements with some force. This causes the battlements to tilt backwards — and lift the the attached hexes. So they still end up buckling in the middle of the tray. It's easily solved with some super glue: just glue the hexes together. But this IS a permanent modification. If anybody is squeamish about that, I'd recommend sticking with the original build (i.e., make the receiving tray out of wall-walk tiles). The occasional die will land in the groove between hexes and end up slightly cocked that way. But to reiterate, it's only slight, and never results in any ambiguity as to how to read the die.

[Son of Arathorn]

Just made the dice tower:
It looks amazing, and when I tried rolling dice in it, it worked great. Can't wait to buy a FotA and make a permanent, glued one. Maybe custom paint it.

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Just made the dice tower:
It looks amazing, and when I tried rolling dice in it, it worked great. Can't wait to buy a FotA and make a permanent, glued one. Maybe custom paint it.

Oh yay! That makes me happy.

Curious, SoA, did you add the additional (totally cosmetic) battlements, as in the PDF build instructions? Or leave them off, as in the real-life photos? Would love to know which version people prefer aesthetically.

[Typhon2222]

Hiya Ghostship. Thanks for testing, and posting.

Originally Posted by Ghostship

I spent about an hour testing this having made it wrong. I forgot the pieces inside at the bottom. Still, I was having trouble with the bottom deflector dislodging, and the ladder bits coming off.

Yesh, the two wall-walk tiles sitting in the bottom of the tower shaft should help with this a bit. But still, as you say, over time the ladder bits tend to come off the deflector assemblage due to all the impact. New/tighter ladder pieces, and new/tighter wall-walk tiles (or rotating the old ones to a new side) can help with this. But if one likes the tower enough, eventually I think gluing the four parts of the bottom deflector together into a single unit is the best solution.

Originally Posted by Ghostship

What I ended up doing is, putting the door in the bottom with its height across the tower and putting two road pieces on the back corners of the first wall level. Then I installed ladders on those road pieces and pushed them down to wedge the door in place. I was able to get about 95% perfect drops with the dice clearing the door opening. Any fowls were to do with the Door hinge. Installing the two tiles in the bottom of the tower should fix this.

Intriguing! I'm having trouble visualizing it precisely, but will go tinker to see if I can replicate what you describe.

As for fouls from the lower door hinge....I hear you. Grab a kitchen paring knife, and slice that thing off!

[Son of Arathorn]

I left the battlements where you intended them to be, it looks much better aesthetically IMO.

[screwDriver]

I think I have solve the puzzle to the dice getting stuck on the door hinge or behind the inclined pieces, and the dislodging inclined pieces. Without using glues, tapes or other tools. Here's what I did.

1. Place a level of 2 hex tiles (or 2 single hex) inside the tower.

2. Stack another level of 2 hexes inside the tower but this time around, attach 4 battlements to this level (btw, attach the battlements before placing the 2nd level). Position the battlements at the back end. This basically elevates your inside floor to the level of the door hinge and eliminating it from obstructing the dice.

3. Now you can place the deflector by wedging the back end against the battlements and the front end against inside walls of the door. Make sure the back end of the deflector is in the middle of the battlements. Effectively allowing half a centimeter (a notch) of battlements protruding. This is important because it makes sure your dice won't get stuck there.

4. And finally, use the "plank" (bar with a half ring) for locking the door and wedge it against the deflector just behind the door hinge where you can see a gap, this eliminates a die getting stuck there.

If done right, you can even pick up the tower, shake it without dislodging these tiles. Although, the bottom level and "plank" would freely stay with the ground level. I didn't use the ladders anymore. I would try to post a picture but the batteries ran out of juice.

[Yodaking]

Do the flag bearer dice fall freely through these as well as the traditional smaller Heroscape dice?

[JC McMinis]

Awesome work here. Wish I had a FotA to try this.

[Scapemage]

This looks great! Maybe I'll give it a shot!

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by screwDriver

I think I have solve the puzzle to the dice getting stuck on the door hinge or behind the inclined pieces, and the dislodging inclined pieces. Without using glues, tapes or Here's what I did.

1. Place a level of 2 hex tiles (or 2 single hex) inside the tower.

2. Stack another level of 2 hexes inside the tower but this time around, attach 4 battlements to this level (btw, attach the battlements before placing the 2nd level). Position the battlements at the back end. This basically elevates your inside floor to the level of the door hinge and eliminating it from obstructing the dice.

3. Now you can place the deflector by wedging the back end against the battlements and the front end against inside walls of the door. Make sure the back end of the deflector is in the middle of the battlements. Effectively allowing half a centimeter (a notch) of battlements protruding. This is important because it makes sure your dice won't get stuck there.

4. And finally, use the "plank" (bar with a half ring) for locking the door and wedge it against the deflector just behind the door hinge where you can see a gap, this eliminates a die getting stuck there.

If done right, you can even pick up the tower, shake it without dislodging these tiles. Although, the bottom level and "plank" would freely stay with the ground level. I didn't use the ladders anymore. I would try to post a picture but the batteries ran out of juice.

screwDriver, you are a GENIUS. This works absolutely perfectly. I've just spent two hours testing it, and your deflector assemblage is absolutely fool-proof. Nothing gets dislodged, nothing gets stuck, and it's very very solid. Amazing.

The only negative is that your assemblage requires two more wall-walk tiles, which exceeds the number that come in a single FotA set. Or so I thought, until I realized we can just replace some of the wall-walk tiles on the very bottom foundation level with wall bases. This frees up the tiles necessary for use in the deflector. It even allows us to increase the height of the deflector by yet another level, which helps ensure that the door bar stays even more firmly wedged in the corner behind the hinge.

I've also made another discovery: shifting the positions of the ladder bumpers inside the tower, and increasing each ladder stack from 4 to 5 pieces, does a much better job of jostling, bumping, and rolling the dice as they fall. Before, many dice missed the bumpers entirely; they just fell straight down the tower directly onto the deflector. That doesn't happen now. They get a serious tumbling.

I'll post new photos, and new build instructions, soon.

Thanks again for a fantastic solution.

[Son of Arathorn]

In regards to flagbearer dice, they roll fine, but they tend to get stuck at the narrowest entry point, right in the middle. The solution: dump em in the sides.

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

In regards to flagbearer dice, they roll fine, but they tend to get stuck at the narrowest entry point, right in the middle. The solution: dump em in the sides.

What he said. As long as you drop the dice into the left or right side of the hopper rather than the middle, they'll go down without a hitch.

New photos and build instructions coming right up. Been taking some time to make sure all looks pretty.